The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.

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Sunday, August 13, 2017

Palestinians Escalate War on Journalists - Bassam Tawil

by Bassam Tawil

Today, it is safe to say that the situation of the freedom of the
media under the PA and Hamas is not much different than that under
Bashar Assad's Syria or even North Korea.

They said they did not know what "sensitive information" Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) were trying to hide.

Today, it is safe to say that the situation of the freedom of the
media under the PA and Hamas is not much different than that under
Bashar Assad's Syria or even North Korea.

Palestinian journalists' hateful obsession with Israel brings
them no dividends. Rather, such venomous bias diverts attention from the
true challenges and threats they face from the PA and Hamas. By
expending their efforts in this twisted fashion, the journalists aid and
abet their leaders in building dictatorial regimes that suppress public
freedoms.

As part of its overarching effort to silence critics, President
Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority (PA) has resumed its war against
Palestinian journalists who refuse toe the line or are suspected of
being insufficiently loyal to their leaders in Ramallah.

But this is nothing new: Abbas and his team have long been
notoriously intolerant of news stories that reflect negatively on them
in particular and on Palestinians in general.

This is the first time that Abbas's PA has made such a ridiculous
charge against Palestinian journalists. In an attempt to justify the
latest crackdown on freedom of the media, Abbas's news agency, Wafa, published
a statement by an unnamed "senior security source" who said that the
detained journalists were being interrogated about their role in
"leaking sensitive information to hostile parties." The detained
journalists, meanwhile, have gone on hunger strike to protest their
incarceration.

Upon hearing about the baseless charge, many Palestinian journalists
said they did not know whether to laugh or cry. They said they did not
know what "sensitive information" Abbas and the PA were trying to hide.

"We don't have nuclear facilities," remarked a Palestinian journalist
from east Jerusalem sarcastically. "It's clear that the Palestinian
Authority leadership is using the security issue as an excuse to justify
its punitive measures against journalists."

Another Palestinian journalist from Ramallah scoffed at the charge
against his colleagues. "This is the most ridiculous claim I've heard in
years," he commented. "It reminds us of Arab dictators who accuse their
opponents and critics of revealing state secrets and consuming
narcotics."

That the PA leadership has refused to provide further details about
the nature of the offense committed by the suspected journalists has
only reinforced the belief that they were targeted as part of an ongoing
campaign by Abbas and his lieutenants to silence critics and deter
other journalists from doing their job or reporting any story that could
reflect negatively on the Palestinian leaders.

Some Palestinian journalists take a different view of the matter.
These reporters trace the arrest of the six journalists to a desire to
pressure Hamas to release two journalists it is holding in the Gaza
Strip: Amer Abu Shabab and Fuad Jaradeh.

In other words, the PA security forces are holding the six
journalists hostage until Hamas frees the two newsmen it is holding. The
journalists detained by the PA work for Hamas-affiliated media outlets
in the West Bank.

Notably, the two Palestinian regimes - the Palestinian Authority in
the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip -- have hardly championed
freedom of speech and freedom of the media. In fact, the two parties
share the same values when it comes to silencing all forms of criticism.
Dozens of Palestinian journalists have been targeted over the past two
decades by both the PA and Hamas.

These regimes have their own special way of defining freedom of the
press. That is, the press is utterly free to blacken the name of Israel.
The name of Hamas or the PA, however, is sacrosanct: criticism of
either would land a Palestinian reporter behind bars or in an
interrogation room.

Hamas and the PA prefer that the press pound Israel. Short of that,
they tolerate journalistic critique of municipal services or the
shortage of medicine in hospitals.

Today, it is safe to say that the situation of the freedom of the
media under the PA and Hamas is not much different than that under
Bashar Assad's Syria or even North Korea. The failure to achieve a free
media for the Palestinians is yet another sign of the Palestinian
failure to build proper and transparent state institutions.

The Palestinians have no functioning parliament, no open debate and
no free media. In the West Bank, the media is controlled, directly and
indirectly, by Abbas and his loyalists. In the Gaza Strip, the only
"media" is that which is controlled by Hamas -- again, directly and
indirectly.

But there is an interesting twist to the latest story of Palestinian
Authority and Hamas assaults on freedom of the media. Sadly, many
Palestinian journalists do not seem to care much about the harassment
and suppression of their colleagues at the hands of their leaders in
Ramallah and the Gaza Strip.

Instead of organizing widespread protests to demand the release of
their colleagues who are being tortured by PA and Hamas interrogators,
Palestinian journalists are still scapegoating Israel. Incredibly, they
continue to incite against Israel despite the fact that they are being
detained and tortured by the PA and Hamas.

Instead of demanding the release of their six colleagues from PA
prison, some Palestinian journalists are protesting because some Israeli
(Jewish) journalists came to Ramallah last week to cover the visit of
Jordan's King Abdullah II.

The presence of the Israeli reporters in Ramallah enraged several
Palestinian journalists, who took to social media to condemn the
Palestinian Authority leadership that gave them permission to come and
cover the monarch's visit.

The
presence of Israeli reporters in Ramallah last week, to cover the visit
of Jordan's King Abdullah II, enraged several Palestinian journalists,
who took to social media to condemn the Palestinian Authority leadership
that gave them permission to cover the visit. (Image source:
Palestinian President's Office)

In this cartoon
by Palestinian cartoonist Mohammad Sabaaneh, an Israeli journalist,
carrying a microphone dripping with blood, is interviewing a dog.

Such incitement was easy to find on Palestinian social media websites
this week. The presence of several Israeli Arab journalists seemed to
roll right over the racist, raging Palestinian journalists -- it is the
presence of Jewish journalists that they cannot stand.

This attack on Israeli journalists has been backed by the Palestinian
Journalists Syndicate (PJS), a Fatah-affiliated group headed by Nasser Abu Baker,
a correspondent of the evidently unprofessional Agence France-Press:
Baker has also run for election in the Fatah Revolutionary Council.

In a statement
published in Ramallah, the PJS strongly condemned the presence of
Israeli (Jewish) journalists in Ramallah and urged Abbas to hold
accountable whoever gave the Israeli journalists permission to come to
the city to cover the Jordanian king's visit.

It seems that for the PJS, the presence of Israeli (Jewish) reporters
in Ramallah is more disturbing than the arrest of Palestinian
journalists by the PA and Hamas.

For the record, in recent years the PJS has served as a mouthpiece
for Abbas's office; instead of defending the rights of Palestinian
journalists, it devotes more than 95% of its words and actions to
denouncing Israel and whipping up rage against Israeli journalists.

Palestinian journalists' hateful obsession with Israel brings them no
dividends. Rather, such venomous bias diverts attention from the true
challenges and threats they face from the PA and Hamas. By expending
their efforts in this twisted fashion, the reporters aid and abet their
leaders in building dictatorial regimes that suppress public freedoms.

Bassam Tawil, an Arab Muslim, is based in the Middle East.Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10816/palestinians-journalists-arrests Follow Middle East and Terrorism on TwitterCopyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.